Another One From the Bad Idea Files

I think politicizing the anniversary of the Newtown massacre is a mistake. Yes, I know the other side will do it too, but that doesn’t mean it’s a smart tactic for us. Whether it feels emotionally satisfying or not, there are things the other side can do that we can’t get away with, and this is one of them. This is the same impulse that made the Republicans go over the cliff with the government shutdown. That the Administration would play theater and make people suffer was predictable, and that the media would do everything humanly possible to blame the GOP was a fore-drawn conclusion.

I don’t like fighting on ground that’s favorable to my opponents, and that’s exactly what this is. Whether it’s right or wrong, waving the bloody shirt is always going to be a stronger tactic for them than it is for us. Our best counter-tactic is to argue this represents shady billionaires and DC-insiders preying on people’s grief and vulnerability for political gain. The best counter-tactic is not to snatch the bloody shirt from those very people, and start waving it ourselves.

13 thoughts on “Another One From the Bad Idea Files”

  1. Agreed. Now, if the Sandy Hook people used that day for political purposes, I would support a counter-protest day, but I don’t really support taking the offensive when we don’t need too, for reasons you’ve outlined.

  2. Let’s just hope there isn’t an OC rally planned for that day… *sigh*

  3. Well, I can understand the reasoning, if the teacher in the first room he entered had been armed there would be no Newtown Massacre to whine about.

    A whole lot depends on how they do it, it could go very well or very badly.

    1. I don’t think arming teachers is a message that can be sold to the general public. Having armed guards, yes, but I think you have to be very careful how you approach the idea of teachers carrying guns.

      1. Disagree… A police officer who came to our school district presented a case study on the VT shooting. Among the things that is becoming clear about that (and other shootings) is that it does not take much to take down a shooter if you are barricaded in a room that he is wants to get into.

        The officer presented the facts (complete with room diagrams and casualty rates) in a format that makes sense. The more FACTS that come out about these school shootings, the more it becomes completely wrong to simply deny that arming teachers with SOMETHING (even a tazer) would save multiple lives.

        1. Cops would be the right type people to carry that message. I also think you have a problem that when you talk about allowing teachers to carry, people spin it as “arming teachers” which is a vastly different thing, and brings up images of passing out a rosco to every teacher at the beginning of the school year. Everyone remembers teachers you wouldn’t trust with a sharp pencil, let alone a gun, and the whole idea generally scares people who aren’t gun folks.

      2. “I think you have to be very careful how you approach the idea of teachers carrying guns.”

        Indeed. I don’t think we’d get much headway trying to push that teachers be armed as a matter of policy, but I think it’d be reasonable to permit teachers or school staff who wish to carry on their own accord to do so if the school agrees. It might be wise for Someone(tm) to develop a training program that addresses concerns specific to protecting against a gunman at a school, as things are a bit different in a crowded building than out and about, or at one’s own property.

  4. Whether it’s a bad idea or a good one, I’m betting that there will be more pro-gun than anti-gun demonstrators that day.

  5. OF COURSE Alan Gottlieb is behind this. Not too long ago he teamed up with Chuck Schumer to try to bring us universal gun registration disguised as universal background checks. I really wonder whose side he’s on anymore, and what his game plan is.

    1. He’s from the Miley Cyrus School of “Ain’t No Such Thing As Bad Publicity”

  6. I was waiting to see what your take on this was.
    I read this a few days ago, and my take is rather mixed. I personally don’t think this is a good idea. I would probably rank this up as even dumber then the Starbucks OC fiasco.
    And even though I know its a double standard, as our opponents used this to push their agenda. I do not believe this helps us push ours, it paints us as uncaring and ignorant. Again I know its a double standard and people will argue this as they should. But take a step outside the comfort bubble we all live in and look at it from a middle persons perspective.

  7. I am left wondering why we seem to want to emulate the losing team, lately. These stunts have not worked for Gun Control…so how’s it going to work for us?

    And I say this from deep inside Maryland.

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